Episode 14: Water and Wizards, both hazardous sometimes

You ready for a fun filled adventure? We did leave this crew in a pickle didn't we! But, you're in for a treat, this is an extended session we did via the zoomy zooms with a bit of our favorite adult beverage and a pinch of silly.

This crew is made up of the following characters:

Unit 2408, the Warforged (humanoid living construct) Barbarian

Luthis, the Kenku (humanoid raven who can not fly) Blood Hunter

Dancing Wind, a Tabaxi (humanoid cat) Wizard

Elniss, a Human Cleric of Ilmater

Evangeline, the Tiefling Paladin of Tyr

When last we left this crew they were in a long 10' hallway with alcoves on either side that had mirrors. The dead end had three levers, and Luthis was trying to sort it out when this happened. We had triggered the trap, so a stone wall had slammed shut at the open end of the hall, there was water filling the hall, it was magically darkened, and at the last moment a hand slapped down on Evangeline's shoulder. Ready for some fun?

So there we are in a magically dark hall, which means no one can see even those with dark vision, water rising, and monsters splashing into the hall. Evangeline had heard a stone grinding from the entrance end of the hall, but the water hadn't started receding. But, there was bigger problem at hand, and that was the monsters, including the one who had its hand on Evangeline.

The creatures did get the jump on us. One attacks Evangeline but misses, another pair attacks Elniss successfully, and a fourth went after Unit 2408.

Luthis proceeds to unleash his crossbow bolts and hits a monster squarely. Unit 2408 was near Luthis so he wades forward to swing at whatever just grunted from the crossbow bolt impact. That monster died.

Dancing Wind, being a bit of an indecisive cat, takes up a defensive stance while Elniss attempts to attack but was unsuccessful. Evangeline "lights her hammer", which means she used her Channel Divinity to make it a magical weapon. And, normally, it glows giving off a nice light, but magical darkness and all.

The water continues to rise, it is now about 3'.

One of the creatures attacks Evangeline, successfully this time, she responds with her hellish rebuke. For her it does cold damage and glows blue ... if we could see. She likes to "freeze the hell right out of you". One of the creatures attacks Elniss, and the other decides to try its luck with Unit 2408.

Luthis, after a quick inspection of the levers and realizing there's nothing he can do about it, moves forward and risks shooting into combat to shoot at a creature, fairly successfully too.

Unit 2408 attacks the creature as well, and Dancing Wind joins in the fight at this point. Elniss switches to doing his Inflict Wounds spell, and Evangeline gets a couple of solid hits in on the creature who dared to touch her.

The water continues to rise, it is now about 4'.

And the creatures continue to attack us, one against Unit 2408, one on Dancing Wind, and one hitting Evangeline.

Luthis again shoots into combat, killing the creature he was aiming at and not hitting the party. Unit 2408, realizing we're in serious danger from the water, basically bull rushes the creature in front of him and starts "running" for the opening end of the hallway while yelling "I have a plan!". Dancing Wind attacks a creature, killing it, then takes off the direction the voice went. Elniss too starts following the voice. And Evangeline finished off the last creature, the one who dared to touch her.

The water continues to rise, it is now about 5'. The problem being, Evangeline is the shortest at 5'6". She has to tippy-hoof it now.

Luthis and Unit 2408 keep charging for the door end of the hall, while Dancing Wind gets confused, or distracted by something he is a cat, and casts Dancing Lights. Which does not add light due to the magical darkness. Elniss ponders for a moment then smashes one of the mirrors in the hallway, and feels the water coming from that mirror stop flowing, so he yells "Smash the Mirrors!" Evangeline, she's all about some smashing, so spins about and smashes the mirror behind her.

The water is still rising, just slower with 2 mirrors out of commission. It is now as tall as Evangeline, and she doesn't swim well being in full plate armor. So she's doing the water walk hop.

Hearing Elniss' yell, Luthis stops swimming and navigates to the nearest mirror and smashes it successfully. Unit 2408 manages to get to the door end of the hall and smashes his knee into an underwater bar of some sort. Dancing Wind spins about to the nearest mirror and smashes it successfully. Elniss goes to the next mirror and smacks at it but doesn't damage it enough to stop the flow. Evangeline hop-walks to the next mirror and smacks it, again not doing enough damage to stop the flow. It's hard to get leverage when you're under water between hops.

Water is now 6'. Evangeline is definitely under at this point, hop-breathing, while Luthis and Dancing Wind have resorted to swimming. Elniss and Unit 2408 are both over 6' so they're still relatively OK.

Luthis navigates to the next mirror and smashes it successfully. Unit 2408 attempts to smash the wall but realizes it's pretty solid so switches to going underwater and investigating the bar. Dancing Wind sends a frost bite to a mirror, smashing it. Elniss keeps smashing at his mirror but it's stubbornly not breaking. Evangeline successfully smashes her mirror and starts swim-walk-hopping to the door end of the hall.

The water flow has definitely decreased, it's still rising but by mere inches now.

Luthis starts swimming towards the door end of the hall. Unit 2408 goes into a rage and starts brute-force lifting the door, getting it to go up about a foot. Dancing Wind sends out more magic at two different mirrors, smashing them. Elniss finally takes out the stubborn mirror and starts swimming to the door end of the hall. Evangeline keeps doing her swim-walk hop that direction as well.

And, the water starts decreasing!

Luthis keeps swimming to the door end of the hall, and Unit 2408 hoists the door up to 3'. Dancing Wind does the split-magic trick again, taking out another pair of mirrors. Elniss and Evangeline keep traveling to the door end.

Water keeps decreasing!

Luthis swims to another mirror, successfully smashing it, but Unit 2408's grip on the door slips and it slams shut. Dancing Wind takes out another pair of mirrors, and Elniss gets to the last mirror and takes it out of commission.

Now that imminent death is abated for the moment, Unit 2408 and Evangeline pair up to man-handle the door. After a few mishaps and one last great heave, we finally get the thing open. We all high-tailed it out of there to discover the water and the darkness all end where the door had slammed shut. As we turn to marvel at this, the door slammed shut again to reveal a bronze mask of a grinning old wizard. Dancing Wind picks it up, stating it's of Halaster the Mad Mage. There may have been another "damned wizards" uttered by Evangeline.

At this point we are all dripping wet and rather a bit exhausted, and a bit injured. So Dancing Wind asks if we can take a cat-nap*. We agreed, so he and two others take a cat-nap while Evangeline and another stood guard. 10 minutes later, still wet, but a bit refreshed and somewhat healed we started trying to find the stairs down to the second floor. Dancing Wind swears he knows where it is.

So we start following Dancing Wind's instructions. Luthis leading us as our scout, then Unit 2408, then Dancing Wind, then Elniss, then Evangeline. After a little bit of travel, we come across a stark naked painting of Halaster, playing a harp. There's a saying on it that prompts Dancing Wind to put on the bronze mask and stare at the painting of the Halaster. Again, there was a "damned wizards" comment thrown into the mix as Dancing Wind is sucked into the painting.

He finds himself in a room with an upside down painting and a very impatient Halaster. "C'mon man, don't take all day now, I've things to do, ask your three questions."

Dancing Wind asks: "Where do the portals behind the white dragon go". Halaster responds with "various planes of existence", basically a non-answer. "What floor do you live on?" "The 23rd, of course!" "What's your favorite color?" "Purple!" and melts out of existence.

Dancing Wind investigates the painting, it's stuck solidly to the wall, so he walks through, returning to the portal. He reports what was said to us, and Evangeline pats her soaking wet purple hair and goes oh dear. Dancing Wind puts the mask back on and goes through again, only to hear Halaster's voice "I'm busy today come back tomorrow". So he returns to us again, and we continue on towards the alleged stairs.

We came to a more natural, largish, rough hewn cavern with stalagmites and such, and the scent of stale water. With some stealth, caution, and Dancing Wind's dancing lights we start exploring the cavern. It seems pretty empty, other than the puddle in the corner, and Evangeline's Divine Sense doesn't pick up anything.

Before we left the cave though, Dancing Wind sends one of his dancing lights into the stale stagnant puddle at the far end of the room, just in case, and finds a box. Before he could dash in after it, Unit 2408 ties a rope to him and holds on. Just in case. But the box is successfully retrieved.

Looking at it it's a 1' cube, completely sealed. Luthis indicates there's something magical going on. Evangeline tries gently chiseling at the box to make a hole to no avail. Then Unit 2408 holds it and commands Open!

And it did. And before any of us can react, Dancing Wind pounces, stuffing his hand right into the box. Pulls out an anchor, which promptly falls the to the ground as he's not strong enough to hold it. So Unit 2408 puts the anchor back in the box and commands Close! And it did. So while Unit 2408 is still holding this quirky box, Dancing Wind commands Open, but nothing happens.

Unit 2408 stuffs it in his pack for now and we head for the other exit of this cave.

And that's where this extended session ends!